The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1887-05-19
IN ExILn If s1BERIAa
sAwuao Particulars OF Esmssia's Great
sfethods OF Dlsposing Of OBJ
jectionabIe Persons.

~ jecttOnable Persons.
But few Of the exiles ever attain to
ssa possession OF a s'house," (" by which
u meant miserable hut. Most OF
saem are in reality the bondsmen Of
Ase Siberian peasants, by whom they
are safred; that is to say, they remain
,tt, their debt as long as they live, ana
are satisfied when they can get money
Tor drinking on holidays from tiieit,
masters. But as the majority Of the
ssiles are rogues and vagabonds by
profession, who are afraid Of work,
the number of fngitiyes is constantly
Increasing, who steal, rob and plunder
whatever a chance offers, and thus In
tensify the nataral antipathy of the,
s,ttler against the class Of the depor-
Ssd. The peasants have every cause
20 be incensed against them. for. be.
sides suffering from the malpractlces
Of the convict class, they have to bear
the cost Of the erection and preserva- =
lion OF prisons for the exiles, organize
butts for the capture Of ranaways, pro-
vide guards for them and find tilB taxes
which cannot be raised from among
the deported class. But the greatest
gaps in the ranks OF the exiles are
taused by the almost systematic escape
81 the latter from forced labor and
froin the convict settlements. Not
lessthan l6iper cent. OF the deported
sscape during transport. Many of
them are shot down like wild beasts by
The peasants and natives. and an OBJ
erver of Siberian life made a very trne
fenark when he said that Siberia
would scarcely have been able to over
power the runaway exiles If the peas
ants had not annihilated them.
The most extreme measures to check
Che system of escape are the hunts by
the natives, organized by the Russian
Governments. The native receives three
rubles If he delivers the prisoner, 'sdead
or alive" to the authorities. a The reo.
pie are provided with good arms and
ammunition, SO ,as TO make hunting
the escaped prisoners 1 q success. One
of those few who managed to escape
was seized In his native village. and
when brought before the court he said:
:. :. For t}yp W" y haye wandered about.
have sWahss Stroagh liver and seas,
have crossed Siberian forests. passed
through steppes and mountains-and
no one has touched me, neither man
nor beast, but here. in my native Will.
age, have been seized and cast into
chains" The escape from forced
labor had become so common that the
administrators Of convict establish.
ments were in the habit Of calling out,
when receiving prisoners: "Whoever
wishes to stay let him take clothes; he
who wants to run away will not need
them" 1t should be observed that
the clothes left behind by escaped con-
victs. so to guard against capture. are
the perqu1sites Of the prison authori-
ties.
While the statistics show an incred-
1ble increaae in the number Of crimes
committed by exiles, proving the efllci-
ency Of the system Of deportation as q
corrective Gelusion, they are equally
condemnatory Of its much-vaunted
cheapness to the state. The cost of
transport of siberian deporter is es-
timated at fifty rubles (S37.50). But
In this estimate are not included the
cost Of transport to the main route
(steamers on the Volga and Kama),
and thence to the place Of destination,
the maintenance OF his family, if he Is
accompanied by it, the maintainance
in prison till the spring, as transports
in winter have been sbolishea, as we'll
as the cost Of the military guard, so
that the expense of transport for each
convict to hls place Of destination
amount to above 300 rubles (S225), a
sum which would be sufficient to keep
him at least four;y years in the dearest
prison of European Russia. But this
sum Is raised to 800 rubles ($0OOy by
the expense CT attaching to the main
tenance of etappe routes, escorts, pris-
ons along the routes and etappe houses
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African Natives as Traders.
Along the northeast of Africa, south